chicken broth

Okay, I give up. It is officially soup time in Oregon! The leaves are yellow and red and the COLD rain is here, as opposed to the warm rain that we usually have. Blankets are a hot commodity on weekend mornings in our house, and someone keeps turning the thermostat up! All signs that some hot, nourishing soup is needed.

I love Thai food. So. MUCH. So when I saw this recipe in Nourishing Traditions, I jumped at it! An easy soup with Thai flavors that takes less than a half hour to prepare and cook? And, it tastes like something you would get in a good Thai restaurant? I'm all for it!

For those that do not like the Thai flavors (like my husband), you can successfully Americanize this soup with great results. Just use sea salt instead of fish sauce.

I am still on a business trip in Phoenix, and had half of my chicken stock left from making Roman Egg Soup last night, so tonight I made a pot of chicken rice soup. It was so surprisingly satisfying. I never realized I could eat such wonderful rich soup that was prepared in a hotel room! Above is an actual picture of the result.

I mentioned a few tips on cooking in a hotel room kitchen in yesterday's post. Today I figured out a few more things that will save me even more time and allow me to eat healthy real food while travelling:

I'm actually in the Phoenix area this week for my day job. My routine is this: 1) get off the plane, rent car, 2) drive to health food store, buy a roasted chicken & other real food, 3) check into hotel with a kitchenette, de-bone chicken, make broth, 4) eat healthy meals most of the week on that one chicken! It has worked for me countless times. I end up eating healthier and feeling better for the whole trip, instead of that horrible “I've eaten out every meal this week” feeling. Oh and I also buy and drink a bottle of kombucha for every day that I'm travelling, makes a huge difference!

This recipe is so simple, I could even make it in my hotel room with limited groceries. It would be even easier to make at home, of course!

You may have noticed the new logo on the home page. I just had to share the story behind that.

Our daughter Zoie has always been an artist and has recently branched out into creating computer graphics. She had incurred a large accidental cell phone bill recently, and owed me money. Separately I was going to pay her to do a logo for the Nourishing Cook blog. So we combined and she did the beautiful logo you see to the left in exchange for paying off part of the bill.

Almost the whole family has been ‘under the weather' this week, including myself. This is why you have not seen any posts this week, because I haven't been cooking! Please hang in there with me, as I'm committed to the end goal of cooking all of the recipes in Nourishing Traditions.